


The Rainbow

by anice_1, capsiclemycaptain



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Artist!Steve, Captain America!Steve, Hospital Setting, M/M, Shrunkyclunks, and mention of leukemia, brief mention of a homophobic attack, but otherwise a lot of fluff, no kittens but rainbows are involved, nurse!bucky, shrunkyclunks-bigbang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-03-28 15:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13907034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anice_1/pseuds/anice_1, https://archiveofourown.org/users/capsiclemycaptain/pseuds/capsiclemycaptain
Summary: Bucky Barnes' job as a nurse on the children's ward is demanding, but he loves it. What he's not so fond of? Obnoxious celebrities trying to use sick children to boost their own public image. So naturally Bucky isn't exactly thrilled when Captain America himself, camera team in tow, is announced for a visit to the hospital. Maybe though, just maybe, not all celebrities are self-centered assholes after all?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my contribution to the shrunkyclunks bigbang! Huge thanks go out to the creators/moderators of this bang for all their work and effort, you guys are the best!
> 
> Also: Thank you to brooklyn-bisexual, my amazing artist, who made this pic of annoyed-nurse!bucky which I just adore! Talented people are talented, I don't know how this stuff works but I'm so impressed??? And also for being a kind and very patient person while I was trying to get my shit together, honestly :)
> 
> I should mention in advance that I know nothing about the proceedings of hospitals, even less those in the US. I tried to keep the descriptions of the actual hospital work to a minimum, but I apologize for any errors in relation to this!
> 
> FUN FACT: This whole fic came about because I had a very specific scene in mind that gave me this idea, but... turns out this scene is now not actually in the fic because it didn't work out in the end. Another time, maybe ;)

„Barnes, could you please come in here for a second?“

Bucky turned around to find Sharon looking at him, her hand still firmly on the handle to her office door. “Sure, but I’m on duty so I don’t have very long,” he shrugged.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be quick, I just want to update you on something,” Sharon replied with a smile and stepped back into the room, leaving the door open behind her for Bucky to follow.

He sat down opposite her at her tidy wooden desk and looked at her questioningly. Sharon leaned forward, resting both her arms on the desk and looked him straight in the eye.

“As you know, this hospital is really having some trouble with our funding lately.”

Bucky sighed. “How could I forget?”

“So the other members of management and me have been talking and we’ve come up with an option to get some good PR and that way access to some potential donors.”

“Okay?” Bucky shifted in his seat suspiciously. He didn’t have the slightest clue where she was going with all of this and what he had to do with anything but he didn’t have a good feeling about it.

“You may or may not know that I’m friendly with Pepper Potts of Stark Industries?”

Bucky raised one brow at Sharon. “I know of her, her company made my arm, but I wasn’t aware you guys knew each other.”

“We went to the same College and have loosely kept in touch since. Anyway, as you probably also know she has some quite… interesting connections to the Avengers. Some more intimate than others, but that’s beside the point. Long story short, we came up with this plan that Steve Rogers, Captain America that is, will be making a visit to the hospital next Wednesday.”

“What.” Bucky frowned at Sharon, no less confused by this statement than he had been before.

“He will be visiting for the day with a camera team, taking a look at the premises and hopefully talk to some of the kids, maybe be in a few pictures. The camera team will be doing a little report on the visit that will be on television with some information about how to donate and help. It’s a win-win, really: Good PR for us and the kids will probably really get a kick out of meeting Captain America.” Sharon leaned back in her seat with a satisfied smile, swiveling a little bit left and right with her office chair. Bucky, however, let his head fall back and let out a groan.

“So you’re telling me that next Wednesday there will be not only some celebrity but also a goddamn camera team hanging around here and getting in my way all day long?”

“Well.” Sharon cleared her throat a little awkwardly. “I was actually thinking that you could maybe host them here, show them around, answer any questions Captain Rogers or the journalists might have, introduce them to the kids?”

“No way!”

“Why not? You have the expertise and you look great on camera.”

“First of all I’m not the PR person here, that’s your job. I’m a nurse. And second of all I have better things to do than play tour guide for some celebrity trying to use sick kids to boost their own ego or try to make a show of how charitable they are. We’ve seen this before and I don’t want it.”

“I’m not saying that this is not also good PR for the Avengers, sure, but what harm could it possibly do?”

“Maybe these kids don’t want to be on television, their illnesses displayed for the entire world to see?”

“We will get permission slips from all the parents or legal guardians, obviously. Anyone who doesn’t consent to being filmed will not appear on the final bit. I made sure I’ll get to see a copy to sign off on before it gets aired. I know how to do my job, Barnes,” Sharon added, pulling up one corner of her mouth.

“I wasn’t trying to suggest you couldn’t,” Bucky mumbled. “I just hate these people who pretend to care about issues just so they can look good to the public.”

“How do you know he doesn’t actually care?” Sharon asked curiously.

“I just do.” Bucky set his jaw.

“Oh well, that’s convincing then,” she replied sarcastically and sighed. “Look, I know you don’t like it and I even sort of understand where you’re coming from. But this is a great opportunity for us and I’m sure the kids would love to be able to meet him, don’t you think?”

“Maybe.” Bucky leaned back in his seat, painfully aware that he had lost this argument, the fact that Sharon was his boss and didn’t have to convince him or explain anything at all notwithstanding.

“But if any of them upset the kids or get in the way of any of the doctors and nurses doing their work I get to throw them out, yes?” he added hopefully.

Sharon snorted. “Yeah, Barnes, whatever.”

A little over a week later Bucky took the elevator down to the ground floor and looked at himself in the mirror in an attempt to make sure the welcoming smile that he had carefully put on was convincing. Satisfied with the outcome he turned around when the doors opened and immediately spotted the small group of people standing in the corner and chatting quietly. He would’ve noticed the camera team anyway from the equipment they were carrying, but there was also no way to overlook the tall blond man towering over them. The red, white and blue outfit he was wearing and the shield on his back made him kind of hard to miss, as ridiculous as he looked. Bucky made his way over and immediately extended his hand to him.

“Captain Rogers? My name is James Barnes. I’m a nurse here and I’ll be accompanying you on your visit today,” he said as politely as possible when Rogers accepted his handshake with a firm grip.

“Thank you,” Rogers replied with a small smile and a nod. “I’m happy Pepper and your management could work this out, I’m really happy to be here.”

“I’m sure you are,” Bucky had to admit that Rogers did sound pretty sincere saying that, but he still had a hard time keeping the sarcasm out of his voice. He made a quick round greeting the four people of the camera team who introduced themselves as Peter (the interviewer), Scott (camera), Luis (sound) and Hope (light) before turning his attention back to Rogers.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be quite so… dressed up”. Bucky vaguely waved his hand up and down Rogers’ body and could have sworn that Rogers actually blushed a little bit at that. He was definitely flustered when he replied. “Oh, the costume, yes… believe me, that was not my choice but Pepper said that the kids would probably like it, so I put it on. I left the cowl off, though.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Bucky smirked. He took a step back and raised his voice a tiny bit to address all five people standing in front of him.

“Alright, before we start I would like to give you all a few instructions. Sharon will be joining us a little bit later for the interviews, but for the time being I’m the person in charge of this visit. We are dealing with actual medical problems here, so if a situation comes up and I tell you to move I expect you to get out of the way so we can do our job. Please do not go into any rooms without my permission and don’t touch any of the medical equipment. I also expect you all to be respectful with the children we are going to be meeting. The ones I will introduce you to have been granted permission by their parents or guardians to be interviewed and filmed but I expect you all to be aware that these children have illnesses, some of which are pretty severe, and I don’t want them upset or their privacy invaded more than strictly necessary for this. I want this to be a pleasant experience for everyone involved, including the five of you, but my first priority are the patients and their families. Is that understood?” Bucky feared he might have been a little too harsh and put a negative mood on all of this right from the start, but he found five earnest faces nodding back at him so he gave a sharp, satisfied nod of his own.

“Good. I guess we can start then. I’ll be here all day to help you with your visit and the filming so you just let me know what you need me to do.” He’d be damned if he couldn’t handle this whole thing professionally.

Peter, a lean, young-looking guy with brown, curly hair, spoke up. “We were thinking we could be doing the tour first so Captain Rogers can meet some of the kids and we may be getting some good footage of that and maybe a few soundbites from him before he leaves. Afterwards we will be staying to do some interviews with you and Miss Carter and maybe one or two of the kids. All of this shouldn’t take any longer than early afternoon and then we’ll be out of your hair.” Bucky only barely suppressed an exasperated sigh. There went his hopes of being done with this stuff by lunchtime.

They took the elevator to the fifth floor where they filed out into the corridor. “So this is the children’s ward where I work. We have fifteen rooms on here and each contains between two and four beds. Oh, and this is Dr. Wilson, he’s the head of this station.” A tall man in a lab coat had just walked past, looking deeply immersed in his clipboard, but stopped and looked up when he heard his name.

“Oh, you must be the camera team and Captain Rogers of course. I’m Dr. Sam Wilson and it’s an honor to meet you all,” he told them and shook everyone’s hand, seemingly not the least bit perturbed by the ridiculous costume that looked even more out of place on the clean, sterile hospital ward.  “I’m afraid I don’t have much time right now,” he lifted the clipboard by way of explanation, “but maybe there will be a moment to talk later. Meanwhile you’re in good hands with Nurse Barnes, he’s been working here for three years and will be able to answer all your questions.” With that, he went back on his way, leaving Rogers and the others to refocus their attention back on Bucky.

“Right,” he declared. “So we will first go into this room over there, it’s currently occupied by three young girls that I will introduce to you. So if you need to set up some equipment before we start, now would be the time to do it,” he added in the direction of Scott, Luis and Hope. They nodded and took a quick moment to get the camera and sound rolling before following Bucky and Steve Rogers to the door.

“Wait here a second, I’m going in first.” Rogers took a step to the side so he wasn’t directly in view behind Bucky anymore.

Bucky rapped his knuckles on the door before opening it. He immediately broke out into a wide grin when he took in the scene in the room, all three girls sitting on the middle bed, whispering to each other in conspiratory tones.

“Hey girls,” he announced when they turned to look at him. “I’m bringing you a visitor.” He stepped aside to reveal Rogers, who stepped into the room with a bright smile that, Bucky had to give him that, looked actually genuine. He approached carefully but stopped a few steps off the bed, apparently unsure what to do. “Hi, I’m Steve.”

“So, um, Steve?” Bucky tried. It felt weird calling this man by his actual first name, almost like the name didn’t really belong to him. But he had introduced himself to the girls this way so Bucky was going to roll with it. “this here is America,” Bucky started to explain and motioned towards the girl sitting at the foot end of the bed. He was awfully tempted to make some terrible pun about her name and Captain America but decided to let everyone do it in their own heads. Rogers seemed to be doing it, if the way the left corner of his mouth moved up just the tiniest bit was any indication. “And these two are Cassie and Kate. Girls, this is Steve Rogers, whom you may know as Captain America.”

“Yes, I can see that,” America declared but her tone was more curious than anything else as she looked Steve up and down.

“Are you the real Captain America though?” Cassie wanted to know, staring at him with wide eyes.

“I am indeed,” Rogers … Steve? Smiled.

“Wow.” Cassie seemed impressed. “Can I hug you?”

Steve was still awkwardly standing in the middle of the room and looked surprised by this reaction. “Um, yes, of course,” he replied anyway and Cassie immediately went to make good on her promise. He barely had enough time to go down on one knee to meet her before she was wrapping herself around him. Cassie was the youngest of the three and since Bucky had met her a few weeks ago he had always known her as a very tactile kid, but that didn’t make the whole scene any less adorable, if he was being honest.

“Why are you here, though? And a camera team?” That was Kate’s voice. While America hat got up to stand behind Cassie she was still sitting on the bed, eyeing all the newcomers in the room suspiciously.

“We’re doing a little documentary about the hospital,” Bucky answered in his place when the other man took a hair too long answering while he was still untangling himself from Cassie. “That’s why the camera is there. Steve is helping us get a few more people interested in what we do here.” Kate didn’t answer but didn’t look any less suspicious either. Cassie was meanwhile standing next to Steve and staring at the shield on his back.

“Can I touch it?” She asked reverently and Steve immediately reached back to unfasten it from his back. “Sure,” he answered and put it down on the floor, resting it on its edge while he was holding it up with his hand. Cassie proceeded to poke at it and then ran her hands over it. “Wow, it’s so smooth,” she declared. “America, come look!”

The other girl slowly took a step closer and did as Cassie had asked. She gave the shield a long, thorough look, before she also ran her hands over it, grinning a bit. Bucky knew that she was mainly humoring the younger girl, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway. He turned his head when there was a little noise behind him and was reminded of the camera team that was standing in the doorway, Scott filming silently while Luis was holding a microphone in the general direction of the scene before him.

Steve, however, didn’t seem to remember the cameras at all, giving the girls his undivided attention. Before too long, he was sitting on one of the two deserted beds, the shield rested on the floor with Cassie sitting cross-legged on top of it. After a few minutes, even Kate seemed to warm up to him a bit. Bucky had to remind himself that this was all just for show and PR, but then on the other hand with the girls, especially Cassie, so happy and enthralled by Steve’s presence he wondered whether it really mattered. Steve certainly appeared sincere, which was as much as Bucky could possibly have hoped for, but he hoped there wouldn’t be some huge fallout when the girls realized his interest in them only stretched as far and the camera lens could see. Kate certainly didn’t seem to be buying the whole thing as much as the two others, which was a little bit worrying.

Eventually Peter cleared his throat and Steve reluctantly got up, smiling down when Cassie immediately got up again to hug his legs. He said a warm goodbye to the girls and followed Bucky and the camera team out and into the next room.

They continued for a little while and Bucky found that most kids were absolutely delighted to meet Steve, touch the uniform and the shield and ask him all sorts of questions which the man answered with a lot of patience and a smile on his face. Not all of the children were able to leave their beds as the three girls had been able to, but then Steve simply bent down to hug them and took a seat next to the bed to have a little chat. Bucky certainly had to hand it to him: If he really didn’t care he was certainly good at hiding it. Maybe the whole thing hadn’t been such a terrible idea after all. He’d rather put on that ridiculous costume himself before he was ever going to admit that to Sharon, though.

Bucky leaned against the wall right next to the door and watched Steve sit next to little Teddy’s bed. The kid was quite severely ill and it showed through his haggard features and the way he was hardly able to sit up in his bed. Bucky hadn’t been in favor of putting the boy on camera but he hardly seemed to notice the people filming him and instead kept telling Steve about all the videogames he liked to play and the action figures of all the Avengers that were his most treasured possession, some of which had taken up permanent residence on the table next to the bed. Their colorful outfits were an odd speck of color contrasting the otherwise clinically white walls of the hospital ward.

Steve examined the action figure of himself curiously. “I didn’t know these were a thing,” he mused while turning the small figure around in his hands. “They got the suit right, but does my face really look like that?” He held it up next to his face and raised an eyebrow at Teddy. The boy solemnly looked between the real Steve and toy Steve for a few seconds and then gave a small shrug. “Dunno, maybe,” he grinned a little sheepishly and Steve laughed.

“James, what do you think?” Bucky winced a little at suddenly being addressed. He found Steve looking at him, only barely managing to keep an earnest expression. “Did they get my face right?”

Bucky took a step forward and took the action figure out of Steve’s hand before making a show of cross-referencing the likeness to the man. He turned the figure around to examine it from all angles and then held it next to Steve’s head and scrunched up his face into a concentrated expression that had Teddy laughing delightedly in his bed. Steve played along, turning his head this way and that way so Bucky could look at him, a slow smile spreading out across his face as he heard the laughter.

“No, the figure looks better” Bucky finally simply announced with a barely suppressed grin and took a step backwards. Steve clutched a hand to his chest in mock offense and turned back around. “Teddy, did you hear that?”

“Aww, Bucky, why are you so mean?” Teddy didn’t at all sound like he really thought Bucky was mean, though. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Steve shoot a questioning look at him at the nickname but Bucky chose to ignore him. “I’m not mean, I am telling the truth. It’s important to always tell the truth, isn’t it?” Teddy nodded at that and so did Steve. Because of course.

“Okay, I think we need to move on to the interviews now,” announced an apologetic sounding voice from the door that turned out to be Peter’s. Right. The camera team. Bucky watched as Steve got up and hugged Teddy again. “It was great to meet you, Teddy, get well soon.”

“Yes sir,” Teddy replied and raised the arm that was not attached to a tube to his forehead in a small salute which Steve promptly returned. He hesitated for a moment and seemed to want to say something else, but then decided against it and followed Bucky and the others out of the room. The camera team took a few steps to the side and looked at the camera screen to check whether the footage had turned out well.

“Is he going to be okay?” he asked Bucky as soon as he had closed the door behind them. Bucky shrugged. “He has Leukemia. Dr. Wilson says he might recover because it illness was discovered pretty early, but he has a weak condition and immune system to begin with, so it’s impossible to say at this point.”

Steve looked at the closed door and Bucky could see his jaw moving as he contemplated this piece of information, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Right,” Peter announced as he walked back over to them. Nurse Barnes, if you don’t mind we’d like to start interviewing the Captain and then we’ll call you in to film a few comments from you?”

Bucky shrugged. “Fine with me.” He held his hand out to Steve. “Captain Rogers, it was nice to meet you. Thank you for your interest in what we do here, we all really appreciate it.” Sharon would be so proud of him, he was sure.

“Thank you for taking time out of your day to indulge me here. My mother was a nurse.” Huh, Bucky hadn’t known that. “That was in the 20s and 30s of course, so that was obviously a very different era, but I know the time, effort and dedication it takes to do this job, and how often it goes underappreciated. It’s my pleasure to help in whatever way I can.” Okay, you had to hand it to him, the guy was good.

Bucky directed the whole group to Sharon’s office where she would be waiting for them to oversee the interview and then went on to catch up on some of the work he hadn’t been able to do this morning. He barely had half an hour, though, before Hope found him and asked him into the office to give his comments. Rogers had apparently already left, so Bucky was asked to sit in a chair in front of a wall that had some pictures of the hospital, wincing when Scott approached him to put some powder on his face, and then again when Hope directed a big bright light on him. He was informed that he was supposed to be looking at Peter while answering the questions, not directly into the camera.

“So can you first start by giving us a little insight into the work you do here and what your own responsibilities specifically are?”

So Bucky did. Sharon had briefed him before on what to say, but she still didn’t seem convinced with some of his answers so she stopped the whole process a couple of times and made him give his answer again, wearing out Bucky’s patience for the whole thing and making it take almost a complete hour until the others thanked him and finally released him to return to the actual duties of his job. He was convinced that for the last 15 minutes of that interview he was sporting a murder stare, but if Sharon didn’t mind or call him out on it then Bucky himself certainly didn’t care.

He started making his rounds. Thankfully his colleagues had taken over some of his duties for the morning and early afternoon so he wasn’t all too much behind schedule. He could go on with his work almost normally. That was, at least, until he entered Teddy’s room again and stopped dead in his tracks because there was Steve Rogers sitting in the chair right next to a sleeping Teddy’s bed and looking up at  Bucky sheepishly.

“What on earth are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to not go into any rooms without my permission?” A man as built as the Captain was ducking his head in embarrassment should’ve been funny if Bucky hadn’t been so incredibly annoyed. It was all he could do to keep his voice down so he wouldn’t wake Teddy up.

“I, um, I wanted to speak to Teddy some more.”

“But when you found him asleep you decided to just watch him like some sort of creep?”

Steve’s eyes widened. “What? No! He just fell asleep a couple of minutes ago, we had a nice little chat and then I just decided to wait here until my car would arrive!”

Bucky opened the door and stood next to it, glaring at Steve as he gripped the door handle. “Out. Now.”

Steve didn’t argue but got up and with one last look at Teddy shuffled out the door. “Look, James, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be a bother,” he began once Bucky had closed the door behind them again. “I just felt so bad about what he was going through and I wanted to cheer him up some more. It’s depressing to lie in that room all by himself, never forgetting about your illness…”

“Are you criticizing how we operate this ward?”

“No, that’s not what I meant! I just … he’s so small and going through so much, and… I just wanted to help is all.”

Bucky stared at the Captain for a few more seconds and then sighed. “Fine, whatever. No harm done, other than to my nerves, I reckon. I would like to go back to my actual job now, though, so if you wouldn’t mind waiting for your car downstairs?”

Steve nodded but didn’t move. He seemed to be mulling something over. “I was going to ask… is there anything else I could do? Long-term, I mean? Like some volunteer-work or something?”

Bucky looked at him questioningly. “Do you have any medical training?” he challenged.

“Just the basic things you learn in the army. As of 70 years ago, that is.”

“That’s not enough, I’m afraid. You can check with Sharon, though, she could tell you more about volunteer opportunities, I’m the wrong person to ask.”

“I will. Thank you. And sorry again.”

With that, he turned around and Bucky watched the red, white and blue-colored figure move down the corridor and eventually turn around the corner towards the elevators. It was not unusual for people who saw suffering first-hand to immediately offer help, but he also knew that it was very often out of sight, out of mind with these things. And Rogers usually had some world-saving to do, so how was he going to fit hanging out with sick kids into his schedule, anyway? Bucky was pretty sure he wasn’t going to see the guy again outside of a television screen.

A couple of hours later Bucky went into Teddy’s room once more to find the boy blinking at him tiredly. “Is Steve gone?” he asked, as Bucky adjusted the monitors and checked the proper dosage of the boy’s medication.

“Yes, buddy, he went home. It’s pretty late, too, look, it’s dark outside.”

“Is he coming back?” The boy sounded so hopeful and Bucky had to suppress a sigh. This was exactly why he hadn’t thought this would be a good idea in the first place. “I don’t know. Maybe. Did you have a good time with him?”

“Yeah, he’s nice. He told me about when he was little. He was small and also very sick all the time, like me, and he almost died a couple of times.”

Huh. Interesting. Bucky was vaguely familiar with the history of Captain America, but he couldn’t have given details on his exact backstory. “Did he say anything else?”

“Yeah, he said me the most important thing when life tries to get you down is to fight, even when things seem impossible, because that’s what he did and why he’s still alive today. And that I remind him a lot of himself because I have the same energy he did when he was younger."

Teddy smiled up at Bucky happily and he couldn’t help but look down at the kid fondly.

“Well, seems like he made quite an impression, huh?”

“Yeah.” Teddy reached over to take the Captain America action figure off the table and give it a long, considering look. “I’m going to be like him when I grow up, Bucky.”

 “I’m sure you will, kid.” Bucky ruffled the boy’s hair. “But now it’s late at night and time to sleep, okay? See you tomorrow, kiddo.”

So the Captain had made an impression, Bucky thought as he made his way home a little while later. Whether that inspiration would last for long would remain to be seen, but at least even if he never came back at least something good had come out of it.

Things went back to normal. Luckily, there were no more camera teams for Bucky to entertain, and the lack of any complaints from Sharon over the next few days made him confident that he had done a decent enough job with the one that she had burdened him with.

Teddy obviously now had a favorite out of his Avengers action figures, and after the next few visits by his parents, more Captain America memorabilia manifested all around his bed. Bucky grinned at a particularly ridiculous poster that appeared on the wall, in which the Captain was striking an absolutely over-the-top hero pose, shield raised and eyes trained into the middle distance in an intense stare.

It was almost two weeks after the visit when Bucky left the elevator on the fifth floor only to encounter Steve Rogers himself, who was hanging around the elevator area and looking like he didn’t know what to do with himself. He had forgone the uniform today and simply wore jeans, a blue shirt and a brown leather jacket which, Bucky had to admit, did wonders to enhance his ridiculous physique without looking like he was trying too hard.

When he saw Bucky walking out of the elevator, Steve immediately left his spot in the corner and walked to meet him.

“Morning, James.”

“Morning… Steve? No fancy outfit today?”

“Um, no. I’m here as a private citizen. I talked to Miss Carter, like you suggested, and we came up with a plan of something I could do.”

“Oh?” Bucky was surprised, especially since Sharon hadn’t mentioned anything at all. “So you’re volunteering?”

“In a way. I don’t know if you know this, but I was not too bad an artist before the war, and I noticed that the walls here are all very blank and white, and I feel like a children’s ward should be more colorful, you know?”

“I agree, but usually nobody here has time or talent enough to decorate the walls.”

“Right. But I have the time. So I offered to take care of that, since I have no medical training so I can’t really be helpful there, and Miss Carter cleared this with the board and Dr. Wilson, who said if I stayed out of the staff’s way it would be fine, and now here I am, ready to start painting.”

Well, that was certainly unexpected. Bucky nodded slowly and stared back at Steve, who was looking at him as if he expected a certain answer.

“Okay, um, sounds good.”

“We thought so.”

"Won't that interfere with your universe-saving duties at all?"

"Believe it or not, the universe doesn't need saving every single day. I can fit in time for both, I'm sure."

“So why were you waiting for me, exactly?”

Steve suddenly looked a little bit unsure. “Oh, I, um, I wanted to start with the big wall in the corridor and I made some sketches, and I wanted to ask your opinion on which one to use?”

“Why?” Bucky asked without thinking. The question seemed to throw Steve off.

“Uh, because… I thought it was the least I could do for your efforts the other day?”

Bucky shrugged. “Okay, let’s see those sketches then. We can go into the staff room.”

A few minutes later they sat at the table in the staff room, three sheets of paper lying in front of Bucky. He didn’t know what he had expected, but the guy definitely had talent, as far as Bucky’s limited knowledge of art was concerned. The sketches were only pencil-drawings at this point, no colors or shading, but they looked really good and were rather detailed.

“This one,” Bucky announced after a little while of deliberation that had Steve shift uncomfortably in his chair. The picture was of a pretty landscape with grass and trees and bushes in full bloom. Sheep and cows were grazing on the meadow, peacefully nibbling on the grass or lying down contently in the sun. Above it all was a huge rainbow that started in the horizon and then grew larger as it went all across the sky and ultimately ended on the top right corner of the page. “It just looks so wholesome and peaceful, I think that would be a great fit for the ward.”

Steve nodded. “Okay. I like that you chose this one. It’s inspired by the stories my mother always told me about her Irish home.”

“These are all really great, though, Steve”, Bucky added as he took another look at the other two options. One was a picture of a circus scene. A huge crowd had gathered to watch the artists and animals that were performing in the center ring. The other was an image of a castle, possibly inspired by something from Disney, Bucky thought, with a group of male and female knights riding over the drawbridge. A dragon was curled up outside the walls, seemingly there to guard the castle in the knights’ absence. “I didn’t know Captain America was such a good artist.”

“Captain America isn’t, Steve Rogers is,” Steve replied quietly. Bucky looked up and they stared at each other for a moment. He hadn’t even thought that there might be a difference between the two, but in fairness he hadn’t ever given much thought to anything Captain America-related before. He didn’t know what to reply so he simply held up the picture of the rainbow. “This one should go on our wall, definitely.”

“Okay, good! I’ll clear it with Miss Carter and then go get the supplies I need so I can start for real tomorrow.”

“Ok, cool.”

“How’s Teddy?”

“Became your biggest fan since you were here, his whole room is now basically dedicated to you.”

Steve honest-to-god snorted at that and Bucky didn’t know how to process that. “Yeah, maybe you should go see him. He’s going to be over the moon!”

The other man notably perked up at that and rose from his chair. Bucky accompanied him to Teddy’s room and as expected the boy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw who had come to visit. Grinning, Bucky left them alone and went to change into his scrubs and finally start working before anyone could call him out for chatting with a national icon instead of fulfilling his duties. Steve Rogers was definitely going to get into the way of the staff, he thought, but maybe that wouldn’t be all that bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed the fic and/or the art, you can come talk to us in the comments or hang out on tumblr to cry about Steve and Bucky or chat about random stuff:  
> [brooklyn-bisexual (art)](http://brooklyn-bisexual.tumblr.com) and [anice-1 (fic)](http://anice-1.tumblr.com)  
> If you love the art and want to share it with others you can do so [here!](http://brooklyn-bisexual.tumblr.com/post/171661050862/first-submission-to-the-shrunkyclunksbigbang-for)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the kind feedback to the first chapter, it meant a lot! <3

Bucky saw Steve the next day in the hallway where he was carrying a couple of boxes and setting them down in front of the large white wall.

“Morning, James!” he smiled at Bucky.

“Good morning, Steve,” Bucky replied and tried to peak into one of the boxes.

“Just my art supplies, this will take quite a bit of paint.”

“Right.”

Bucky turned to go on his way when a fast little something ran past him which turned out to be little Cassie who had flung herself at Steve and went on to hug his legs. America, Kate and another little boy called Eli were trailing behind her. Kate and Eli had a look of delight on their faces while America looked honestly impressed and a little disbelievingly at Steve.

Bucky decided to leave them all to it and get to work, but word of Steve’s return got around fast and all the kids that were able to leave their beds were constantly found in the corridor talking to Steve. He didn’t seem to mind and was constantly found sitting on the floor where he was having conversations with them, so it was no wonder that when lunchtime came around the wall was still just as white as before. The only thing that had changed were a few paintbrushes and bottles with paint in them that had scattered on the floor, thankfully still screwed tightly shut.

“Lunch?” Bucky asked when it didn’t seem like Steve was going to get any actual work done within the next few minutes. He agreed and then stood up and dusted of the jeans he was wearing before he followed Bucky down into the cafeteria on the ground floor. They went and got food and drinks and took their plates to a table in the corner.

“So I noticed you didn’t exactly get very far, yet.”

Steve laughed. “No, not really, I had some catching up to do first.”

“Don’t worry about it, once you’ve been here a few days you will be old news and then you can do your thing without the small ones bugging you.”

“I don’t mind them bugging me, quite the contrary, actually. It’s not like I’m on a schedule here, I have nowhere else to be and if talking to me makes them happy then that’s what is going to happen.”

Bucky thoughtfully chewed on his pasta and swallowed. “You’re a nice dude.”

“So they say.”

Bucky looked up at the tone in Steve’s voice. It only sounded partly like a joke. “Is that another of these Steve Rogers is not the same as Captain America-things?”

“Maybe,” Steve huffed and looked down on his plate. He seemed to consider something for a few seconds before he decided to speak. “Can I ask you something personal?”

“Is it about the arm?”

The look of confusion that followed that statement was almost comical. “What? No, I think that’s not my place to ask you after having had a total of two conversations with you.”

“You’d be surprised at how many people ask after not even spending two minutes with me. I don’t mind, though, it’s fine.”

Steve set his jaw, not taking the bait. “Anyway, it wasn’t about the arm.”

“Then what was it about?”

“Your nickname. Bucky?”

Bucky groaned. “Oh god, of course that’s what you have to focus on. It’s from my middle name, Buchanan, and my sister somehow turned that into this nickname because she couldn’t pronounce it when she was little. I hated it at first but it kind of stuck so now I let the kids here and my friends use it. It grew on me a little, actually.”

“It’s adorable.”

When Bucky looked up he was met with a shit-eating grin and promptly threw his napkin at Steve who caught it with something almost like a giggle. “You are the actual worst!”

The day went on rather uneventfully. When they returned from lunch Steve made a beeline into Teddy’s room and Bucky left him there, sliding a few of the paint bottles closer to the wall with his foot so nobody would trip over them while the large form of Steve Rogers wasn’t there to warn them to circle around that general area.

A few hours later Bucky changed out of his scrubs at the end of his shift to find that there had been some progress in the corridor. Steve was standing in front of the wall, attaching a large number of sheets with what looked like enlarged details of the painting on different spots on the wall.

“I see you’re a very busy man. My shift’s over, I’m going home. See you tomorrow?”

“Yes, definitely,” Steve replied as he stretched up to put one of the panels high up on the wall. “Have a good night!” Bucky’s eyes trailed down to the piece of skin that was suddenly exposed but quickly pulled himself together. He wasn’t even going to go down that route in his head, he decided, even if this guy was famously built like some sort of Greek god. Wasn’t science amazing, though?

Bucky had a later shift the next day and Steve was already there when he arrived. Apparently, the kids had left him alone long enough to get some actual work done, so Bucky could make out several faint pencil lines that had been applied, and now Steve was kneeling down to draw some more on the lower area of the wall. Over the next few days, those expanded until the image that Bucky had seen on a piece of paper could actually be made out on the wall. “It’s a guide for me to get the proportions right,” Steve explained. “I’m going to fill it with colors later and won’t be keeping those sharp lines when I paint the colors in, but it’s great for reference.”

Lunch together became a regular thing. As it turned out, Steve was a man you could have long, interesting conversations with, but who was also totally not above being a silly little shit, often enough at Bucky’s expense. Bucky used his years of experience growing up with a sibling to his advantage and gave back as good as he got. More than once they drew looks from the other employees having lunch in the cafeteria because they got a serious case of the giggles, but Bucky didn’t mind because they were having a good time, and laughter was healthy after all.

As Bucky had predicted, after a couple of days it became significantly easier for Steve to work, even despite the sudden influx of female hospital employees who seemed to have a lot more errands to run on the children’s ward, lately. Steve still spent large chunks of time with the children, especially Teddy, but he also managed to actually work on his painting. There was the occasional day when Steve couldn’t come in because of some urgent Avengers business or other, but all in all Bucky was pretty impressed with how much time he spent in the hospital ward, almost as if he had nothing better to do outside the occasional world saving business. “I seriously was not expecting him to be spending this much time here,” Bucky would say to Sam when he came back from his ward round one day. “Turns out he actually cares about these children, I didn’t see that coming when Sharon first announced him.” To Bucky’s surprise Sam just raised one eyebrow and levelled him with a look. “Have you considered he may not just be here for the children?”

“Why else would he be here?”

Sam kept looking at Bucky for a few more moments but when he was met with a confused expression he eventually sighed and walked over to the coffee machine. “No reason at all.”

One Thursday afternoon Bucky stomped along the corridor with a murderous expression on his face when Steve looked up from where he was applying green paint to the wall and stopped him, concern on his face.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah yeah, everything’s great,” Bucky gritted out, voice heavy with sarcasm. “Just got a new patient. Tommy.”

“And that patient was being an asshole?”

“No, absolutely not!” Bucky dropped his voice so he wouldn’t be overheard from the other patients’ rooms. “Some youths beat him up, Steve! You should have seen him when they brought him up here, and that was after he was already treated in the emergency room! He’s going to recover, physically at least, but they really did a number on him. It was four versus one and he’s just a kid, Steve! Not like I haven’t seen this type of thing before, but it fucking gets to me every single time!”

Steve stared back at Bucky, suddenly looking just about as angry as Bucky felt. “Can I talk to him?”

Bucky shrugged. “Knock yourself out. They put him in the empty bed in Teddy’s room. You and he probably have some shared experiences, maybe it’ll be good.” Bucky would rather scratch his own eyes out than admit he had been googling Steve Rogers maybe a little bit more than was strictly necessary, but the fact that young Steve had regularly gotten into fights was such a well-known fact that it was probably safe to mention. Steve simply nodded, however, and made his way down the corridor to the room Bucky had just emerged from.

Bucky didn’t know how much time had passed when Steve found Bucky in the staff room, looking just as murderous as Bucky had felt earlier.

“They did it because they thought he was gay,” he announced just as Bucky was pouring himself a cup of coffee. Sam looked up from where he was sitting at the table and raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

“Okay?” Bucky put the cup down on the table and turned to face Steve. “I know.”

“You knew?”

“Yes, he told me. I already talked to him about how it got better for me when I got older, but I know it’s not much help to him for now.”

That gave Steve pause. “You’re gay?” Bucky’s defenses immediately went up. He had forgotten for a moment that Steve was anything but a modern New Yorker.  “Problem?” He asked in a challenging tone.

 Steve’s eyes went comically wide. “No! I just- I didn’t- no problem at all!”

“Good.”

For a few moments it looked like Steve wanted to say something else but he evidently decided against it and turned to leave the room. “What was that all about?” Bucky wondered.

Sam’s reply was only to pointedly take a huge sip of his own coffee before he redirected his attention back to the magazine on the table.

Bucky found Steve in Tommy’s and Teddy’s room later and he could have sworn he heard animated chatter that died down the moment he opened the door. All three looked at him as if he was a ghost and Bucky eyed them suspiciously but didn’t comment. Instead, he went on to check on Tommy and gave him his medication as Steve looked on attentively. He followed Bucky out of the room and hesitated in the corridor for a second.

“Sorry about earlier,” he began. “I was taken off guard. I just hate bullies, especially when their victim is just a kid and even more if it’s for something like being gay. I was upset and didn’t mean to put you on the spot.” Steve shifted uncomfortably.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. It’s not like I don’t feel the exact same way about this shit. Sorry, can I even say shit in your presence?” Bucky added and Steve huffed. “You damn well can, I was a soldier in fucking World War II, remember?” Bucky laughed at Steve’s stern expression and just like that the tension was broken and they started to shuffle along the corridor slowly.

“The kids who did this to Tommy deserve everything bad in the world, though.”

“Yeah, maybe I should go find them.” Steve sounded so serious that Bucky looked at him in surprise and stopped in his tracks. “Steve, you can’t go beat up a bunch of kids. Even after what they did.”

Steve sighed. “I know. And I won’t, but they do deserve it.”

“You’ll hear no argument from me.”

Bucky accompanied Steve to his painting, since he was going that direction anyway to head into another patient’s room. In front of it Steve hesitated for a second as if he wanted to say something else but seemed to decide against it and instead just nodded before turning back to his work. For the rest of the day every time Bucky walked along the corridor Steve was painting with determination, half the time not even noticing Bucky walking past because he was so focused. It was actually quite endearing, Bucky thought to himself, before he quickly walked past to get his work done and let Steve do his. Slowly but surely the final picture manifested on the wall. The landscape and the animals looked vibrant with the bright colors Steve was using, but still looked realistic all the same and Bucky was more than just a little impressed with the skill Steve displayed.

*

“So I thought maybe I could ask you about your arm now,” Steve announced at lunch a couple of days later a propos of nothing. Bucky stared at him in surprise. “Really? That’s how you’re doing this? Now?” Steve shrugged and Bucky shook his head with a little huff.

“It’s not that big of a deal, actually. I got into a car accident and got trapped in the wreckage. By the time they could get me out my blood circulation had been cut off too long and they couldn’t save the arm. I went through a tough time afterwards, was really angry at fate and thought I could never do my job or most of my hobbies anymore. If it weren’t for my sister I probably wouldn’t have done all the physical therapy and the counselling as disciplined as I did, but she made me go. I hated her a bit during that time but these days I’m grateful that she persevered. I really owe her.”

“I’m sorry, “ Steve said sincerely. Bucky shrugged. “Well, I got better, or at least well enough to apply for your buddy Tony Stark’s prosthetic trial program and they hooked me up with this.” He lifted his metal arm and wriggled his fingers in Steve’s general direction. “It’s a marvel of modern technology, I swear. I can use it just as well as my flesh arm and I can feel pressure, heat and cold. The only drawback is that it’s harder to clean than my old arm and it often gets me some odd looks, but I’m used to that now and it usually makes the kids like me a lot because they think it’s really cool to have a nurse with a robot arm.

“Fair enough,” Steve grinned. “The things modern science can do, right?”

“Not only modern science. You of all people should know. You and I make a matching pair, two human science experiments gone right.”

“Right,” Steve said but added nothing more. Bucky saw a muscle in his jaw twitch and wondered if he had said something wrong, but didn’t get a chance to ask before Steve was talking again. “Miss Carter told me earlier that our TV segment is going to air tomorrow afternoon. Will you be able to watch it?”

Bucky groaned. “Ugh, I totally forgot about that. Yeah I guess I’d better check it out.”

They returned their trays and made their way to the elevator to ride back up. Steve was chewing on his bottom lip, lost in thought, but didn’t say anything and Bucky didn’t know how to ask so he left him to his painting and went into the staff room to change back into his scrubs.

The corridor was suspiciously Steve-free the next morning when Bucky returned to work. He assumed he would probably encounter him in one of the kids’ rooms but he was nowhere to be found. “He was called in for some urgent Avengers business,” Sam offered when Bucky aggressively pushed the buttons of the coffee machine around noon. “What?” Bucky hadn’t even noticed Sam standing behind him. “Your boy Rogers. He’s not coming in today because of urgent business,” Sam repeated more slowly. “Sharon told me this morning and since you’ve been sulking all day I figured maybe you’d like to know.”

“He’s not my boy. And I am not sulking.” Bucky jabbed his finger at the button again in a fruitless attempt to make the coffee run out faster.

“Sure you’re not,” Sam replied in a tone that betrayed how entirely unconvinced he was and shuffled away. Bucky crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at the coffee machine. He wasn’t so dense as to not realize what Sam was insinuating, but he couldn’t have been more off. So what if he had gotten used to seeing Steve in the hallway all the time? It’s not like that meant he had a crush on the guy or anything. That was just ridiculous.

*

Okay, Bucky thought a few hours later when he watched Steve talk to an off-screen Peter on TV. Maybe he did have a little crush. Just maybe, and just a little one. But could you really blame him? The guy was attractive as hell and had a ridiculous shoulder-waist-ratio, which that terrible red-white-and-blue outfit nicely accentuated, and in addition to all that he was also a nice, warm, caring person with artistic talent. Who wouldn’t have a crush on someone like that, honestly? He was definitely not going to admit that to Sam, though, and instead glared at him for good measure every time he saw him that day. Infuriatingly, that only seemed to amuse the Sam even more.

Steve was back the next day and greeted Bucky with a bright smile from his usual spot in front of the corridor wall. Bucky swallowed hard and found himself oddly tongue-tied seeing him back there. He blamed Sam.

“Glad you’re back, the kids kept asking about you yesterday,” Bucky told Steve.

“I know, I saw most of them already. It’s nice to be missed,” Steve joked.

“Yeah, they sure did,” Bucky added casually and strolled past Steve to make his first round. He felt eyes on his back as he walked along the corridor but resolved not to turn around.

At lunchtime he found Steve already waiting for him with a bright smile next to the door and pointedly ignored Sam who was waggling his eyebrows at him from behind Steve. “The heck is your problem, Wilson,” he asked him later after Steve had gone home and Bucky and Sam were an hour into their night shift.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Sam stated innocently.

“You know exactly what I mean. You’re trying to insinuate that I have a romantic interest in Steve Rogers.”

“Well, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter if I do, because he’s an attractive, well-liked celebrity who could have anyone he wants and is also straight as a board!”

“That was not a no, Barnes. Don’t hide your light under a bushel, you may not be famous but you’re not that bad-looking either, if I say so myself. And how do you know he’s straight?”

Bucky chewed on his lower lip. “Google.”

Sam gave him a look. “So you cyber-stalked the guy but you’re trying to tell me you’re not interested?”

“I’m not trying to tell you anything, you are the one who brought this up in the first place!”

“I’m just saying, maybe don’t count him out just yet, you might be surprised.”

“He was with this Peggy girl back before he went into the ice. I’ve seen the pictures.”

“And because you saw some pictures of a guy with a woman during a time where being gay was actually illegal you assume that he’s straight? Come on, you have more common sense than that.”

Bucky glared at Sam and set his jaw. “I have changed my mind about the guy, he’s not a shallow PR-hungry celebrity like I thought he was. But that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly deluding myself into thinking I have an actual chance with Captain freaking America.”

“Maybe not, but you might have one with Steve Rogers.”

“You know what, you sound exactly like him, maybe I should just date you instead. That’ll give me the same level on nonsense talking only with 100% less celebrity hassle.”

“I’m flattered, Barnes, it’s always so great to have your personality appreciated like that, but I actually am straight.”

“Your loss.” Bucky shrugged and left the room to the sound of Sam’s laughter.

*

The picture was almost finished. The colors of the rainbow were applied as were the ones of the scenery and the animals within it. The corridor seemed a hundred times friendlier and happier with the vibrant colors radiating from the wall, but Bucky was only half happy about that because every additional speck of color brought them closer to Steve’s project being finished. It wasn’t like Bucky hadn’t known this would happen at some point, but he was still a bit sad to see that there wasn’t a lot left to do for Steve here. A lot of his equipment had already been put back in the boxes and he was only making small adjustments and corrections. “At this rate I think I will be finished tomorrow,” he informed Bucky when they made their way into the cafeteria.

“Oh.”

“I’m really happy with how it turned out, though.”

“Yes, it’s fantastic.”

Steve eyed him curiously which told Bucky that his enthusiasm probably hadn’t been as convincing as he had intended. “I mean it already looked great on your black and white drawing, but this huge and in color it looks even better. People really need to appreciate that you’re at least as much of a talented artist as you are a fighter.”

Steve gave him a warm smile and even blushed a little at the compliment. “Thank you, Bucky, that means a lot.”

Bucky had to look away because he felt himself blush as well. “Don’t mention it,” he mumbled back.

“I think I’ll do patient room three next before I work my way through the other ones. It will be fun to have Tommy and Teddy there while I paint it.”

Bucky stopped short. “What?”

Steve turned around, surprised to find Bucky staring at him, and looked a little confused. “I said I will be doing the walls of the patient rooms next.”

“So… does that mean you’re staying?”

“Um… yes, obviously? I cleared that with Sharon two weeks ago, I thought I told you already.” Bucky kept staring at him. “Oh, okay, apparently I didn’t. Well, surprise, I guess? You’ll be tripping over me for another few months? Uh, sorry?”

Bucky looked at Steve and the way he was nervously fidgeting because of the blunder he thought he had made, and couldn’t help but smile. A smile that turned into a huge grin within seconds, and triggered a variety of expressions on Steve’s face. He seemed to go from confusion to surprise and then suddenly looked very determined.

“Bucky, will you go out with me?”

Bucky’s jaw dropped. “What?” He asked dumbly for the second time within a minute. Steve set his jaw and looked Bucky straight in the eyes. “I’m asking you on a date. What do you say?”

Bucky stared at him, unable to speak for a moment because his stomach suddenly felt like jelly and the blood was rushing loudly in his ears.

“Are you not straight?” he blurted out, which apparently was not the reaction Steve had expected.

“Uh, no I’m not? Never said I was?”

“You were with that Peggy woman!” Bucky exclaimed. “I saw pictures!”

Steve frowned at Bucky for a second but then raised one eyebrow in amusement. “I have been reliably informed that this is what these days is called heteronormativity and bisexual erasure.”

“Oh my god, Steve Rogers, you are such an idiot,” Bucky groaned and threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “Yes, I’ll go on a date with you! But don’t pretend you weren’t surprised as hell when I told you I was gay! It all makes so much sense now!”

Now it was Steve’s turn to grin happily. “It just so happens that you’re an idiot, too, so that all works out pretty well for the two of us.”

*

Bucky didn’t know what he had expected, exactly, but he had to admit he was pleasantly surprised that there were no paparazzi in sight who were going to put him and Steve on next morning’s gossip websites when Steve brought him to a small, charming Italian place. “I don’t get as many paparazzi because I rarely do anything interesting,” Steve informed him. “Until now, that is.”

Bucky had been nervous, of course he had been, but once they were seated and had ordered their meals there was no awkwardness and they fell right back into the casual comfort of their lunch dates. Huh, Bucky thought, had they actually been dating for weeks without either of them realizing? Steve laughed when he asked and agreed that yes, they probably had. And they should have realized sooner.

They talked for hours, Steve sharing funny stories about the other Avengers while Bucky talked fondly of his sister more. He learned that Steve didn’t have any siblings of his own (which he had already known thanks to his google searches) and had found it difficult to make friends. That had been partly due to the fact that he had been such a ball of anger all the time that people just didn’t have the patience to put up with him, but partly also because he had been so small and sickly that he simply physically couldn’t go out to play with the other children half the time. “That’s why I like Teddy so much,” Steve explained. “He’s like me in a way, only with slightly better social skills and better medical care.”

“Which reminds me, his test results came back the other day and they were really encouraging. The new therapy seems to take effect. At this rate he might be able to leave the hospital in a few weeks.”

“That’s amazing!” Steve’s smile sent a warm and fuzzy feeling through Bucky’s whole body.

“Shame the serum didn’t fix your lack of social skills,” he joked and Steve rolled his eyes. “You didn’t meet me before, I’ve actually gotten a lot better.”

“Would you do it again though, if you had the chance? Take the serum?”

Steve looked at him with a strange look. “You know what, nobody has ever asked me that before.”

Bucky was surprised. “Really?”

“I think everyone just assumes it must be the single greatest thing to ever happen to you,” Steve nodded.

“But it’s not,” Bucky guessed matter-of-factly.

Steve shook his head. “No, it’s not.” He thought about it for a moment. “I think most of the bad things about it didn’t come so much from the serum itself but from the circumstances around it. A scientist was killed for it, a good man. And then I was the only one who ever got the real version of it, and that gave me all sorts of pressure and expectations.  Suddenly I wasn’t just one soldier of many, suddenly I was a symbol I never wanted to be.”

“And you became Captain America.”

“I thought for a while that I became him, but it turned out I was still the same me, I just suddenly had to maintain this other persona that I displayed in public. It’s funny how much easier that is when people don’t treat you like shit because of the way you look anymore.”

Bucky mulled that over for a minute. “And they say our generation is obsessed with looks.”

“Every generation is obsessed with looks. Before, women wouldn’t look at me and men wanted to beat me up. After, women suddenly wanted to be with me and men wanted to be me. It’s nearly impossible not to become a bit cynical about that.”

“I bet.”

“You were the opposite though, you didn’t give a shit about my Captain America persona and you only started to like me when you got to know the actual Steve Rogers.”

“True. I don’t really care about Captain America to be honest. I saw him again the other day when he gave this interview about our hospital on television, and that was a completely different person from the man who has been painting our corridor wall for the past few weeks.”

“I’m glad you see it that way,” Steve smiled and Bucky’s stomach gave another small jolt. How he hadn’t realized sooner how big of a crush he had on this man was now beyond him, especially when they left the restaurant to go for a walk and Steve leaned in for a kiss right in front of the Manhattan skyline because of course he would be a sap like that. But then Bucky took his hand and they walked like that along the riverbank because Bucky wasn’t any less of a sap and he decided to embrace it. No better time than now.

Sam would be insufferable when he found out about this, but it was probably worth it.

*

“Is Steve your boyfriend now?” Teddy asked curiously when Bucky walked in to check on him.

“Yes, how was your date?” Tommy piped up from the other bed. Bucky eyed both of them suspiciously. “How do you even know we went on a date in the first place?”

“Steve told us.”

“Steve told you?”

They both nodded. “We’ve been telling him to ask you for ages but he was a chicken! So is he your boyfriend now?”

Bucky grinned, not even surprised that Steve had apparently been getting relationship advice from two pre-pubescent boys, and nodded. They both cheered and threw their hands up in the air. Laughing, Bucky handed out their medication and then left the room where he almost walked into the aforementioned man.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning yourself!”

They grinned at each other stupidly for a few seconds, then Steve slowly leaned in, waiting. Bucky met him halfway for a chaste, slow kiss, and when he drew back he could see Sam standing way back along the corridor where he was watching them with an expression that very clearly said “I told you so.” Bucky, mature adult that he was, stuck his tongue out at him. Steve turned around to find out what had caught Bucky’s attention, but all he could see was Sam’s retreating back, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed the fic and/or the art, you can come talk to us in the comments or hang out on tumblr to cry about Steve and Bucky or chat about random stuff:  
> [brooklyn-bisexual (art)](http://brooklyn-bisexual.tumblr.com) and [anice-1 (fic)](http://anice-1.tumblr.com)  
> If you enjoyed this fic enough to share it with your pals then you can find a convenient post to do just that [here! :)](http://anice-1.tumblr.com/post/171980277789/the-rainbow-written-by-anice-1-ao3-with-art-by)


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